EAST MEADOW, N.Y. - Washington State senior Erin McCleave placed seventh overall in the finals of the 400m freestyle Friday on the fourth day of competition at the U.S. Spring National Championships in East Meadow, N.Y.

The Rutherglen, Australia native turned in a time of 4:20.32 during the preliminaries of the 400m freestyle to place eighth and advance to the finals. She then swam a time of 4:19.37 to place seventh overall. It was McCleave's third trip to an event final and the second top-ten finish for the senior.

Elyse Peterson, a sophomore out of San Luis Obispo, Calif., swam the 100m breaststroke in a time of 1:13.53 to advance to the "C" finals of the event. She placed fifth in the finals with a time of 1:13.72.

Freshman Michaela Ahlin advanced to the "B" finals of the 100m butterfly with a time of 1:02.71 during the preliminary heats. She swam to a fourth place finish with a finals time of 1:02.34.

Bryn Mooney and Afton Pickett also competed for the Cougars Friday. Mooney turned in a time of 1:05.21 in the 100m butterfly to place 58th. Pickett swam the 100m backstroke in a time of 1:06.90 to finish 46th overall.

As a team, the 400m freestyle relay squad of Michaela Ahlin, Erin McCleave, Shawna Keller and Kayli Changstrom placed second in the preliminaries and tenth overall in the event. The Cougar squad earned its second top-ten finish of the competition with a time of 3:57.55. The same group finished eighth overall in the 800 freestyle relay Thursday.

Currently, WSU sits in 12th place overall with a total of 36 points.

Competition at the U.S. Spring Nationals concludes Saturday with the 1500m freestyle, the 200m individual medley, the 50m freestyle and the 400m medley relay. Erin McCleave will swim both the 1500m and 50m freestyle events and will be joined in the 50m freestyle by Elyse Peterson and Michaela Ahlin. Shawna Keller will compete for the Cougars in the 200m individual medley.